Wanfoge Temple, Shanxi, China

4.5 (5 reviews) Spent Ranking #8 in Wutai County Religious Sites

Wuye Temple or "Five Uncle" Temple

The rough story goes something like this. This region faces drought frequently and the people suffered. So one day, Manjusri went to borrow a "cool stone" from the Dragon King to cool this region and bring rain. The Dragon King was unhappy and lost his cool. Then his Five Dragon Princes came here to retrieve the cool stone but were placated by the Manjusri Bodhisattva. So this temple is a place now where many people come to pray for rain and for their wishes to come true. Because of his ability to grant wishes, this temple is the most popular temple in Wutai. May 13 (Lunar) is the birthday of Wuye and is said to be the date where your dreams declared to Wuye are most likely to come true. While the entrance to the temple is free, if you wish to pray, you have to pay a high price for the incense. (RMB 100, 200, 300 etc) candles, etc. There are also many privateer that will accost you when you try to pray. They will assist you to light your incense and teach you to pray in the four directions. They will then ask for a very high service fee like RMB 300-1000. I tried to pay him RMB50 but we settled for RMB100. In other parts of Asia, such a temple (with such services) would typically be considered a Taoist Temple but here it is combined with Buddhist Gods and the chinese here has consummate skills in commercialising both Gods and Buddhas. If your wish were to come true, then you are required to return to the Temple within 3 years to offer your thanks. At this temple, and other temples, you can find offerings and donations from people (typically HongKies) whose wishes have been granted by the Five Dragon Prince (Wuye). May you have a fruitful trip here and experience the power of Wuye.
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